Did other ancient Greek words exist that meant homosexuality or being gay?

Homosexuality Is Not a Sin

Homosexuality Is a Sin

Some people argue that Paul actually "coined" the term arsenokoitēs to mean male homosexuality (there simply wasn't an ancient Greek word or phrase that described both male and female homosexuality as the word "homosexuality" does); however, one of the most compelling reasons as to why arsenokoitēs cannot be translated to mean "men who practice homosexuality" is because there were several other familiar ancient Greek words that Paul would have used if he had intended to mean that any man who has sexual relations with another man or a boy is a sinner. These ancient Greek terms describe man-man love or man-boy love, and they all can be found in A Greek-English Lexicon, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, and the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary.1

Some people think that Paul created arsenokoitēs to refer to men who were involved in relationships with boys. This type of relationship was common at the time and there were several common ancient Greek words that referred to these type of men, such as παιδεραστής, which meant "lover of boys;" paiderastéō or παιδεραστέω, which meant "love boys;" or paiderastíā or παιδεραστίᾱ, which meant "love of boys."1 Undoubtedly, Paul believed that these types of relationships were immoral. In fact, in 1 Cor. 11:14 ESV, Paul states, "Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him . . . ." Paul makes this statement because it was common for older men to view boys with long hair as "effeminate" and "beautiful," and the older men would often court these types of boys for companionship.2

At any rate, since there were several ancient Greek words that referred to men in paederastic relationships and since Paul chose not to use one of these words, we know that arsenokoitēs did not refer exclusively to these men. Nevertheless, arsenokoitēs most likely covers these types of men along with men who are involved in adult homosexual relationships.

Homosexuality Is Not a Sin

Homosexuality Is a Sin

It is important to note that other ancient Greek words existed that referred to men who had sexual relations with other men. Paul could have used the ancient Greek word arrenomanēs or ἀρρενομανής, which meant "man mad for a male" according to McNeill or "mad after males, of men" according to A Greek-English Lexicon as used in Cat.Cod.Astr.8(2).43, and v.l. in Heph.Astr.1.1, or he could have used μαίνανδρος, which meant "mad after men."8

Several ancient Greek words referred to sodomy as well, such as ἀρρενομιξία, which meant "sodomy," ἀνδροβατέω, which meant "paedico," and androbatēs or ἀνδροβάτης, which meant "man-coverer" according to Gagnon and "paedicator" according to A Greek-English Lexicon.9 The word paedico is a Latin word that means "to commit sodomy with, to practice unnatural vice upon."10 As stated above, the word arrenomanḗs or ἀρρενομανής meant "mad after males, of men," and it is probably the closest ancient Greek word that referred specifically to male homosexuality.

No ancient Greek word for "homosexuality" that referred to same-sex relations among men and women existed. This is because the ancient Greeks did not view homosexuality as a vice or even as a type of sexuality, since most Greek men were bisexual.3 Therefore, it makes sense that Paul would create a new ancient Greek term which referred to male homosexuality.

Some similar ancient Greek terms existed which may be interpreted to mean "men who practice homosexuality," but they are not common within ancient Greek writings, and, thus, were rarely used. For example, the following ancient Greek words existed according to A Greek-English Lexicon (1940): arrenomanḗs or ἀρρενομανής, which meant "mad after males, of men," and μαίνανδρος, which meant "mad after men," but arrenomanḗs only occurs in two ancient Greek writings: Cat.Cod.Astr.8(2).43, v.l. in Heph.Astr.1.1 and μαίνανδρος occurs in only one ancient Greek writing: Hdn.Epim.83.4 Since these words do not appear to be common in ancient Greek writings, it is possible that Paul was not aware of these words, and he probably created a word that is simliar to these words to refer to male homosexuality.

Homosexuality Is Not a Sin

Homosexuality Is a Sin

As previously stated there was not a Greek term for a man who slept with male prostitutes. Some people claim that there were ancient Greek words that referred to these type of men, specifically πορνοφίλας, πορνογενής, πορνοκοπέω, πορνοκοπία, πορνομανής, and πορνοκόπος. However, the first two words, πορνοφίλας and πορνογενής, referred to men who loved female prostitutes - a female prostitute was labeled as a "harlot" in ancient Greece;14 the next three words, πορνοκοπέω, πορνοκοπία, and πορνομανής, referred to whoremongers, who were men or women who generally love prostitutes without any reference to the prostitutes' or clients' gender; and the last word, πορνοκόπος, refers to a prostitute's client, but once again the word does not reference the prostitute's or the client's gender.15

All of the above terms were rarely used; they only occurred in one or two manuscripts. In A Greek-English Lexicon (1940), πορνοκόπος is cited in Men.1057,LXXPr.23.21; however, the English translation of the manuscript simply states, "For the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; And drowsiness clothes them in rags," which doesn't seem to refer to a prostitute's client at all. Furthermore, none of these words referred specifically to male clients who visited male prostitutes.

Thus, it is possible that ἀρσενοκοίτης is referring to men serviced by male prostitutes, especially when the other Greek vices surrounding ἀρσενοκοίτης are considered. However, it is also possible that Paul intended for arsenokoitēs to refer to something else, such as rapists (no ancient Greek word translates as "rapist") or men who entered into relationships with wealthy men in hopes of obtaining their wealth.16 Unfortunately, without being able to read the word arsenokoites first used by Paul outside of a list of vices, it is very difficult to know how Paul intended the word to be defined in his letters.

Although An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon's (1889) definition for ἀρσενοκοίτης, "lying with men," is vague (Does it refer to women who lie with men, men who lie with men, or both?), ancient Greek words existed which described male and female relations that Paul could have used if he had intended to describe sexual acts in general terms. For example, according to the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary and An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), πορνείᾱ or porneia means "fornication, prostitution," and, according to A Greek-English Lexicon (1940), πορνείᾱ means "prostitution, etc.; of a man, fornication, unchasity; idolatry (by metaphor)."5 Thus, if Paul had intended arsenokoitēs to mean "male prostitution" or "fornication" in general terms, he could have used the word porneia instead of arsenokoitēs, since porneia was a very common word in the ancient Greek language; it was used in ancient Greek writings at least 51 times according to A Greek-English Lexicon (1940).

Some people think that arsenokoitēs may have referred to a client of a prostitute, but several ancient Greek words existed for these types of people as well. For example, πορνοφίλας and πορνογενής both meant "loving harlots," πορνοκοπέω meant "to be a whoremonger," πορνοκοπία meant "whoremongering," πορνομανής meant "mad after prostitutes," and, perhaps the most relevant term, πορνοκόπος meant "one who has commerce with prostitutes, fornicator."7 These ancient Greek words prove that a word existed for clients of a prostitute, so Paul most likely did not create arsenokoitēs to refer to these types of sinners.

From the discussion above, we know that there were several very common ancient Greek words that referred male-boy love, there were very few, uncommon ancient Greek words that referred to male-male love, and there were several very common ancient Greek words that referred to prostitution and the clients of prostitutes. Since ancient Greek words for paedastery and prostitution were common and words referring to male homosexuality were not common, the only logical explanation remaining is that Paul created arsenokoitēs to refer to male homosexuals.

1A Greek-English Lexicon is considered one of the most fundamental pieces of work for the ancient Greek language and which most, if not all, lexicographical work on the ancient Greek language is based upon (see Wikipedia, A Greek-English Lexicon, 2004). The book's contents were compiled and reviewed by many scholars and ancient Greek linguist experts in the late 18th century and early 19th century, and it took many years to complete (Liddell & Scott, 1940, Preface 1925). Return

2"(I)t was slave boys that the Romans were allowed to love" (Spencer, 1995, p. 69); "It was common for a Greek older male to take a Greek boy as a lover; however, the older man had to prove to the boy that he was not just interested in the boy physically, but that he was also interested in the boy intellectually and that he was committed to enriching the boy's welfare and education" (Spencer 1995, p. 43 & 48). Return

3"But after all, bisexuality was the status quo; women for the most part must have accepted it quite simply as an integral part of male sexuality" (Spencer, 1995, p. 71). Return

16"Countryman (1998, 128) sees arsenkoitai as a link between adultery (pornoi) and theft (andrapodistai), referring to 'legacy hunters who used sexual attraction as a bait.' This interpretation is based on the Decalogue-pattern of 1 Tim. 1:10. Martin (1996, 118-23), on the basis of the contexts in which the word occurs in Sibylline Oracles 2:70-77 and Acts of John 36, concludes that the word refers to some kind of exploitation by means of sex-perhaps, but not necessarily homosexual sex" Nissinen, 1998, p. 177, fn. 69, citing Countryman, 1988, p. 128. Return